I love these ‘rakafot’ (cyclamen) flowers.This beautiful flower, native to Israel, is unique in that its head bends down but its petals rise up. It also grows most commonly in rocks and crevices and seems to be not only beautiful in appearance, but strong and resilient too. 
When I looked at these flowers I thought of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation. 
Just like these strong flowers bloom in the face of adversity, the Jewish people who have lived through nearly two thousand years of persecution have seen off all their enemies, in every civilization, in every generation.  
The Jewish people have survived and the Jewish people continue, and will always continue, to thrive.  
The Rakefet flower bends its head towards the ground, yet its petals rise straight up towards Heaven. We are a nation which has been humbled, and most recently brutally attacked, slandered, hated and persecuted and we are also a nation who is nourished by faith, nourished by miracles, nourished by an eternal brotherly love and an eternal love of G-d, of life and of TRUTH. 
 
There is a legend that King Solomon, who built the first Temple, used this flower as the design for his crown, because of all that this flower’s shape and nature represented. It is said that after the Temple was destroyed, it bent its head even lower in grief.  May we see the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple speedily in our days!